Yiannis CoveYiannis Cove | Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com
Website PortfolioSat, 14 Feb 2015 16:25:33 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1What it’s Like to Teach at an Eikaiwahttp://www.yianniscove.com/what-its-like-teaching-at-an-eikaiwa/
http://www.yianniscove.com/what-its-like-teaching-at-an-eikaiwa/#commentsSat, 14 Feb 2015 16:15:50 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1641Teaching was always something that I had wanted to try out and so when the opportunity presented itself in the form of a TEFL qualification and the ability to travel to another country, I jumped at the chance. The demo lessons that I performed while on my TEFL course however, would in no way prepare me for the real thing. For starters, while on the course I taught adults exclusively. This made things very easy for a person who has never taught before. They are very interested in learning and would therefore listen for the majority of the class. I finished the course and looked into what kind of jobs were available in both Japan and all over South America. I still wasn’t entirely sure where I wanted to work. After researching though, I was set on Japan. It provided more opportunities and a much larger salary overall. This, combined with a reasonable cost of living made it much more appealing. Once that was set I had to decide on which kind of schools I wanted to work at. There are two options here, the first of which is an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) position. This would mean working in [...]

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/what-its-like-teaching-at-an-eikaiwa/feed/0Almost Famous (2000) – Netflix Instant Recommendation of the Dayhttp://www.yianniscove.com/almost-famous-2000-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/
http://www.yianniscove.com/almost-famous-2000-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/#commentsFri, 19 Dec 2014 14:49:20 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1634Synopsis: Stillwater, an early 70′s rock band, has the sound and the look and Rolling Stone Magazine assigns teen William Miller to their story. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for the teen as he hits the road with his favourite band and discovers the price of fame, the value of family and the limits of friendship. Trivia: The film is director Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers Band. Gregg Allman distrusted him, and kept asking if he was a narc. Crowe was in a near-fatal plane crash while traveling with The Who. The character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey of Eagles. Click Here To Watch

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/almost-famous-2000-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/feed/0Snowpiercer (2013) Netflix Instant Recommendation of the Dayhttp://www.yianniscove.com/snowpiercer-2013-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/
http://www.yianniscove.com/snowpiercer-2013-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/#commentsThu, 18 Dec 2014 14:35:46 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1629Synopsis: Set in 2031, the entire world is frozen except for those aboard the Snowpiercer. For 17 years, the world’s survivors are on a train hurtling around the globe creating their own economy and class system. Led by Curtis, a group of lower-class citizens living in squalor at the back of the train are determined to get to the front of the train and spread the wealth around. Each section of the train holds new surprises for the group who have to battle their way through. A revolution is underway. Trivia: Joon-ho Bong had reservations about casting Chris Evans in the lead role because of his muscular physique. He felt that as a resident of the extremely poverty-stricken tail section, Curtis should not be especially physically fit. Costuming and careful camera angles kept Evans’ physique from showing. Click Here To Watch

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/snowpiercer-2013-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/feed/0The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – Netflix Instant Recommendation of the Dayhttp://www.yianniscove.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-2014-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/
http://www.yianniscove.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-2014-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/#commentsWed, 17 Dec 2014 14:01:01 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1623Synopsis: The Grand Budapest Hotel recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune – all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent. Trivia: Fox Searchlight sent its specification for the film’s “proper projection” to theaters before its release. Although Wes Anderson’s crime caper was shot in three different aspect ratios (1.37, 1.85 and 2.35:1) to inform viewers where they are in the time line, which alternates between 1985, 1968 and the 1930s, instructions state in large, bold red font that the film is meant to be projected in 1.85:1 aspect ratio (the standard). Aside from the projector setting, the directions include information on framing the picture, image brightness, audio configuration and fader setting. Click Here To Watch

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-2014-netflix-instant-recommendation-of-the-day/feed/0Bad Santa (2003) – Netflix Instant Recommendation of the Dayhttp://www.yianniscove.com/bad-santa-netflix/
http://www.yianniscove.com/bad-santa-netflix/#commentsTue, 16 Dec 2014 11:29:37 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1530Synopsis: A miserable conman and his partner pose as Santa and his Little Helper to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. But they run into problems when the conman befriends a troubled kid, and the security boss discovers the plot. Trivia: Billy Bob Thornton admitted that he was genuinely intoxicated during the filming. Click Here To Watch

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/life-in-japan/feed/0Tokyo Travelshttp://www.yianniscove.com/tokyo-travels/
http://www.yianniscove.com/tokyo-travels/#commentsWed, 20 Aug 2014 16:47:53 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1589After nearly three months in Japan, I finally got to go to Tokyo this past week and it surpassed every expectation that I had of it! On Wednesday I had a staff meeting over in Sendai and so with the group I was going with, we decided that we would get the night-bus down to Tokyo from there and arrive Thursday morning, before heading straight to Disney. This sounds like a fun idea but makes for an incredibly exhausting couple of days. The night-bus left Sendai at around 11:30pm and arrived in Tokyo at 5am. Having barely slept I was feeling pretty out of it but then the adrenalin kicked in as we made our way to Disney. The Tokyo subway system is like something out of a nightmare. I’ve ridden trains all over the world and never seen a system like this one. Add to that our tiredness and it made for some confusing moments, as we tried to figure out how to get to Disney. Eventually we worked it out though and we set off from Tokyo station. After a couple of train transfers and a Disney monorail, (which you have to pay for here!) we made it [...]

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/tokyo-travels/feed/0Getting Settled In Japanhttp://www.yianniscove.com/getting-settled-in-japan/
http://www.yianniscove.com/getting-settled-in-japan/#commentsMon, 07 Jul 2014 15:02:13 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1576As of today I’ve been in Japan for 6 weeks and my actual apartment for 3 of those weeks. I began by training in Nagoya, which is one of the largest cities in Japan, located a little south of the middle of the country. It was a great area with lots to do and I definitely took advantage during the (little) free time I had during training. The training was honestly completely exhausting. It comprised of learning the curriculum that I would be teaching, demonstrating lessons to other trainees, and actually teaching lessons while being observed by other teachers. This was combined with lots of travel and very little sleep. Luckily this was something I had dealt with less than 6 months earlier during my TEFL course and that lasted a whole month. However, this was still very tiring and I was glad to be done with it. Whenever there was a free day or evening, the other trainees and I would relax by going out for food and karaoke. Like everywhere else in the world, the Japanese are obsessed with the song “Let It Go” from Frozen and so that seemed to become a theme for our group of [...]

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/getting-settled-in-japan/feed/0My First Few Days In Japanhttp://www.yianniscove.com/my-first-few-days-in-japan/
http://www.yianniscove.com/my-first-few-days-in-japan/#commentsSat, 31 May 2014 03:23:06 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1569At the time of writing I have been in Japan for about 4 days and I figured I’d write about my initial experience here as I have no internet in my apartment and I’m trying to take things easy this weekend before training starts. On Monday morning I left London, heading for Nagoya, Japan – 17 hours later I landed. That alone was exhausting enough. I first flew for 11 hours before stopping in Hong Kong airport. It being 7am when I landed, nothing was actually open. And so with three hours to kill and no gate for my flight yet, I wandered aimlessly through the huge airport before eventually finding something I recognized, a Starbucks – and it was open! I checked and they accepted Yen, which was great because it was all I had on me. However they only gave change in Hong Kong dollars. Suffice to say, I now have 20 of those and no idea how much I actually spent. Eventually I got onto my next flight toward my final destination of Nagoya. Stepping off the flight in Nagoya, the very first thing I noticed was the unbelievable humidity. Granted it is the summer here and [...]

]]>http://www.yianniscove.com/my-first-few-days-in-japan/feed/3My Move to Japanhttp://www.yianniscove.com/my-move-to-japan/
http://www.yianniscove.com/my-move-to-japan/#commentsMon, 31 Mar 2014 16:55:08 +0000Yiannis Covehttp://www.yianniscove.com/?p=1537As many of you now know, I was recently offered a job teaching English to children in Japan. It is something that I am incredibly excited about and so I thought it would be a good idea to write about what led me to the decision, as well as what I hope to gain out of living and teaching in another country. The job was not something that I just decided on one day, it actually came as the result of a huge amount of hard work and determination over the past 18 months. Having studied Filmmaking & Creative Writing at university, I graduated in 2011 with the intention of working in the film industry, starting off as a runner and working my way up through the ranks, all-the-while working on my screenwriting which is my true passion. Unfortunately the economy had other ideas, and the job field which was already hard enough to get a foot into became near on impossible. I dabbled in odd freelance work here and there but the jobs became fewer and further between. I had trouble even getting interviews for expenses paid internships, couldn’t afford to take unpaid ones and I knew I need [...]